Did Prince and Mayte's Baby Die?

You may have heard the rumor: Prince's wife, Mayte, prematurely gave birth to a son with severe defects that left the baby's skull crushed and caused severe retardation--and, inevitably, the boy died. With the only "news" surfacing in tabloids, we're left wondering what's really up at Paisley Park. Here's a look at the still-dubious evidence.

The first stories were reported by the National Enquirer. Liberally quoting anonymous "insiders," the tab says the child was born on October 16 and died one week later, suffering from a rare affliction called Cloverleaf skull syndrome. It claims Prince's current media blitz was carefully calculated to take his mind off the death.

A reporter at the paper says the story was based on a death certificate for one Baby Gregory. Although the mother is listed as "Mia Gregory" and the baby's race as "white," the Enquirer says it's just proof of a cover-up. No father is named on the death certificate, but the Enquirer asserts a connection between that piece of paper and a car registered to Prince's Paisley Park estate--although our own examination of the certificate can't find it.

The strangest thing about the Baby Gregory death certificate is that there's no corresponding birth certificate. A columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, who goes only by the initials C.J., picked up on the story, reporting Tuesday that the baby's birth had not been filed with the county--long after the normal five-day processing period.

A spokesperson for the Minnesota State Department of Health told E! Online that, despite the unusually long wait, a certificate should finally be recorded by Monday. "I think there's some celebrity treatment happening here," C.J. said in an interview.

The Artist has been understandably mum, repeating the mantra du jour of celebrities: "My personal life is off limits." "Whenever we give birth to our children, the world won't know their names, their sex, anything. Our child has to make those decisions," he told the St. Paul Pioneer Press two weeks ago.

The closest Prince has come to divulging any information about his baby came last Thursday during Oprah Winfrey's tour of Paisley Park. Prince told her his child was a boy and showed her the baby's playroom, but the baby was conspicuously absent. When Oprah asked about the baby, the veteran rocker answered cryptically: "We have a long way to go, there will be many more children..."